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3w ago

NASA Will Open JPL Management Contract to Competitive Bidding

NASA says the competition will test whether alternative management models can lower costs while keeping missions running and the laboratory’s site unchanged.

JPL's management contract is suddenly up for grabs for the first time since the 1930s — and that single line in Isaacman's reorg memo is the part NASA insiders are quietly panicking about

Overview

  • NASA announced Friday that it has formally begun a multi-year procurement to competitively award the next management-and-operations contract for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  • The California Institute of Technology has run JPL since the lab’s founding and its current contract runs through Sept. 30, 2028 with a potential value of up to $30 billion if all options are exercised.
  • NASA said it is pursuing competition because the U.S. space economy has grown enough to create a viable market for some FFRDC tasks and cited Department of Energy precedent for competing federally funded research centers.
  • Caltech and JPL leadership said the announcement was expected and that they already have a team in place to prepare a bid for the next contract.
  • The procurement was started now to allow a full competition without disrupting active or planned missions, but the process could affect management practices, overhead costs and local employment tied to JPL over the coming years.